Fulton Daily News

United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, William Hochul, told reporters at a news conference that three store clerks arrested in Western New York have been charged with selling a controlled drug or its analog that leads to bodily harm.

Hochul said that the crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

There were very few arrests as police carried out this week’s raids, but officials said many arrests are coming, soon.

A man from Hannibal was among 15 arrested by federal authorities as they broke up what they said was a cocaine distribution ring that moved more than half a million dollars of the drug each […]

A search warrant application (see the link at bottom to read the entire application) filed by federal authorities as part of the nationwide crackdown on synthetic drug sales called Operation Log Jam details a visit to the Broadway shop by an undercover investigator. The investigator talked with a store clerk and bought some synthetic drugs, according to the application.

UPDATE: Oswego County Today’s Steve Yablonski was outside the 420 Emporium on Broadway in Fulton this morning as law enforcement raided the store. Police are carrying out coordinated raids against the 420 Emporium and the Tebbs chain of head shops. Check inside for reaction from passersby and more of our exclusive photos from the very start of the raid

Medical and legal experts have a host of questions about synthetic drugs like bath salts: How can we make them illegal? How can we deal with people high on the drugs? What’s the best approach to the problem of addiction?

But a public conference call on the subject Monday night shows that average people have far more basic questions. For example: What’s a “bath salt”? Is it really the same thing I’d put in my bath?

INSIDE: Frequently Asked Questions about synthetic drugs, and the full audio of the conference call.

Click inside to see a gallery of photos contributed by Kyler Gardner from Saturday’s firefight at a multi-family home on Fulton’s West Side.